My fingers itched to reach for the gun in my waistband, but there were too many people inside. I couldn’t find the man in the hoodie at first. Looking over at the bar, I spotted Jocelyn sitting next to Rogers. Acid burned in my stomach after seeing how close he sat to her.
I’m gonna fuck him up.
Glancing down, I saw his hand on her waist, and that time, I almost did pull out my gun.
“Calm down,” Carter said in my ear, a hand resting on my shoulder. “She’s doing what she needs to.”
Refocusing, I turned to search for the guy in a hoodie. Something wasn’t right about him. I hadn’t been able to make out his face from the car, but I trusted my instincts.
“There,” I said when my eyes landed on a figure leaning against the wall. I couldn’t make out his face in the darkness, but I saw clearly enough to realize he wore a pair of sunglasses.
“That’s strike two,” I said. “You keep an eye on Jocelyn,” I ordered Carter, who looked at me and nodded with a stern expression.
I gave Jocelyn and Rogers one final glance and headed for the guy on the wall. Though the lowered hoodie and sunglasses prevented me from making out his face, it appeared as if he stared in Jocelyn and Rogers’ direction as well.
“Strike three.”
Before I could reach the wall he leaned against, his head swiveled in my direction. Abruptly, he pushed away from the wall and started for the back of the club. I followed, a deeper sense of danger growing in the pit of my stomach.
Had Rogers set this up?
Maybe Rogers was on to us and had this guy in the hoodie there to lure us somehow. All types of thoughts raced through my mind as I kept my sights trained on the man in the hoodie.
He drew farther and farther away. The crowd swelled when the DJ began playing another hip hop remix. People shouted and threw their hands in the air, obscuring my view.
The music thrummed in my ear as my heart rate skyrocketed, but I kept pushing forward. Soon, we came to a back hall where multiple clubbers danced while a few couples made out pressed against the walls.
I quickened my pace when I realized there was a door at the end of the hallway. He paused and turned to glance over his shoulder. His face remained shielded by the hoodie and the glasses.
“Shit,” I grunted when he slipped through the door.
I broke out into a full-on sprint, ramming my body through the door so hard it smacked against the brick siding of the building. I swung my head right and left and spotted him about a yard to my right, further down the alley.
My legs began moving before I even thought about it.
He sped up and turned down another dark alleyway.
“Fuck,” I growled when I collided with a homeless man in the alley. “Watch out.”
I passed a second homeless man, the man in the hoodie still about only a yard ahead of me.
He rounded the corner onto another street and gained some distance, but I was right on his ass. Luckily, the alley he turned down came up to a chain fence.
“Get the fuck down,” I shouted and pulled his ass down from climbing.
“What’s going on out there?” someone behind me yelled.
I didn’t give myself time to think about who’d asked the question. I focused on trying to rip the hoodie off the man’s head to get a good look at his face.
“Are you the bastard that threatened my woman and almost killed my best friend?” I growled and swung at his ass.
He grunted when the punch landed against his ribs. He rebounded quickly and ducked my next swing. He was fast, but he didn’t attempt to fight back. Instead, the fucker spun on his heels and started for the fence again.
I caught his leg, pulling him away from the fence. That was when he must’ve spotted a random wooden board next to the dumpster pile.
He swung it at me.
It narrowly missed my head.
